ConvergEx Group Chief Market Strategist Nick Colas was recently
at a conference for Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs), and he
learned that the "Main Street" crowd is decidedly optimistic on
the prospects for the stock market.

"Essentially, this is one pretty bulled up crowd," writes
Colas in a note to clients. "And it’s not just the presenters,
many of whom run mutual funds or exchange traded funds. You’d
expect them to be optimistic. No – it is the warm embrace of the
message by the RIAs here that is most notable."

Colas's observations at the conference reminded him of something
he calls the "Boston buy, New York sell" routine on Wall Street,
which he describes as such:

For as much as Wall Street has changed over the last few
decades, one ritual still begins the day at virtually all
research-driven brokerage firms: the “Morning
Call.” If you haven’t worked at one of these
operations, you probably have a fairly antiseptic view of what
this entails. Sector analysts and strategists gathering
with the firm’s salespeople to opine on markets and stocks and
guzzle on 20 ounce Starbucks… Some polite questioning,
perhaps... And then all the salespeople hitting the phones
to spread the word to clients on the firm’s investment viewpoints
as expressed by the analysts.

The reality is somewhat sloppier. Analysts
give their perspectives, yes, on the investment merits of the
public companies under their coverage. But the most likely
question from the sales staff is either “Why isn’t everything you
just said already in the stock?” or “What are the 24 words I can
say on the off chance I actually get a client on the
phone?” And every salesperson serves accounts with a wide
variety of investment perspectives. What the guy covering
hedge funds needs from an analyst call is very different from the
gal covering long-only mutual funds.

As a result, the same analyst morning call gets
transmitted in very different ways. It might start
as an upbeat reiteration of a “Buy” recommendation with some
color about the current quarter that the analyst believes will be
a penny below consensus. The hedgie salesman will call
every account saying “My guy/gal says that this company is going
to miss. Short the stock.” The mutual fund
saleswoman will go out with “Gotta buy this name
if/when it pukes on the quarter.” Old school Wall Street
salespeople call this a
“New York sell, Boston buy” call.

"To sum up, this is essentially one of those 'NewYorksell, Bostonbuy' calls,"
says Colas of the bullishness on display at the RIA conference.

"Is this group too amped up in the near term? Probably," writes
Colas. "But I think it’s a mistake to call an absolute market top
on the basis of this enthusiasm."

After all, says Colas, "this crowd has lived through so
much in the last five years that I doubt their currently bullish
tendencies will be easily derailed."